1st Birthday Party..

On Saturday, we celebrated the twins' first birthday.  I had been pinning Mickey and Minnie themed items on Pinterest for the past few months and finally, had brought the ideas to fruition.

     

First, I had my Instagram pictures printed and used them to create a garland with pictures of the babies from the time they were in the NICU until the present.  My father-in-law was kind enough to clear off his kitchen area so that I could display the cake and some of the other items I had purchased and made.

   

 The cakes were made by a baker at an organic cakery in Danbury, CT.  The woman made the babies' cakes vanilla bean with vanilla frosting and used marshmallow for the polka dots (Aven's smash cake (left) and Harper's smash cake (right)). The adult cake is in the middle. The bottom layer was vanilla buttercream and the top layer was chocolate with a raspberry filling.  The fondant was made of marshmallow and all three cakes were delicious!

                

I saw these awesome birthday boards made out of black foam board with metallic markers and just had to try to make them! They turned out great and were so easy to create! The boards list the babies birth date along with the things they love and their current estimated height and weight.

We attached Mickey ears to the paper lanterns to create lanterns that went along with the theme.

I used some of the leftover pictures to create a ONE on the refrigerator (maybe a little overkill!).

I put black and red balloons with white polka-dots in the front yard and secured them with golf tees.

I created cards embellished with Mickeys and listed an e-mail address I had created for each of the babies so that relatives could send them messages, memories, photos, etc....

(I will provide them with the address and password when they are old enough).

The party was great! I still can't believe my babies are ONE!!

To My Sweet Miracle Babies...

Harper and Aven-

You came into my life unexpectedly (before you were due to arrive) and now I cannot imagine a time when I was not your mommy. It was by far the scariest, happiest, saddest, most bittersweet day of my life! You were small and delicate with skin that was paper thin-so thin we were told not to rub your skin, just to touch you gently.  Your entire hand was the size of your father's finger.  You were both born with a full head of hair that we couldn't see for days because your head had to be wrapped in order to hold the tubes that helped you to breathe when you couldn't do it on your own.  We had to wait a few days to hold you; it seemed like an eternity.  I remember the startling sound of the monitors ringing and beeping in your hospital room, I remember giving you your first bath, being able to pick you up on my own from your incubator, watching you move into an open crib (and then back again, Aven), I remember getting a call in the middle of the night and the Dr. telling us you had an infection, I remember when you couldn't eat for ten days in order to give your intestines a rest, I remember when I got to hold both of you at the same time (it was one of the most special moments of my life), I remember when you took your first bottle (without needing a feeding tube), I remember breastfeeding you (for hours because you didn't have the sucking reflex to eat quickly), I remember when they started talking about sending you home, I remember when we had to leave Harper in the hospital for a few more days, I remember when we had one baby at home and one baby in the hospital, I remember when finally, on my 32nd birthday, we were all home together as a family.  I remember all of this because these were some of the most precious moments of my life. This past year we have had many ups and downs, trial and tribulations, heartaches, failures and successes, but most importantly, I learned that being a Mother is the most important role in my life.  I never want to disappoint you, I never want to see you get hurt or fail. You make me want to be a better person and most importantly, I want to make sure that you grow to be confident, independent, funny, hard-working, honest, loyal and most importantly, kind.  I will always be here for you no matter where your journey leads you.  I love you more than you will ever know (until you become a parent).  I look forward to watching you grow and celebrating all of your accomplishments. Happy 1st Birthday miracle twins! I love you today, tomorrow and always...

                                                                         Love-

                                                                             Mommy xoxo

                                             

My beautiful girl...